Another week has quickly come and gone, and we’re now one week closer to Jesus’ return.  Are you ready?  Or are you just preparing to think about commencing to start to get ready to begin the final planning stages into a study if it’s time to seriously think about preparing??

    Time has a nasty habit of slipping away.  We look at the long list of things we intended to accomplish, and the short list of things we actually DID accomplish, and somehow, our good intentions weren’t enough.  It just seems like there aren’t enough hours in the day.  No doubt there will be those who will be caught by surprise when the Lord Jesus returns.  Have you ever considered the possibility you might be one of them?  I have, many times!  That’s the scariest thought I’ve ever had.

    Each of us has our own area of responsibility as we interact with those around us.  Jobs and family activities take a lot of our time, and of course there are always those unexpected things that pop up that demand our attention.  As I was writing this letter, I got a call from a dear friend who was broke down in his car and he needed help.  So I dropped what I was doing and went to help him.  About 3 hours later, I’m getting back to finish.  See what I mean?   Before we know it, the day is over, and we haven’t spent any quality time with the Lord.  Oh, the intent was there, only it just kind of got squeezed out, right?  Been there, done that.

    I don’t think anyone who loves the Lord wakes up in the morning thinking, “God won’t mind if I don’t have time for Him today.”  But yet, it happens sometimes.  And sometimes that “sometimes” is way too often.   How would your life be if you got so busy you forgot to breathe?  You may say, well, breathing is just automatic, and you don’t have to think about it.  True.

    Have you ever considered so conditioning yourself so that spending time with the Lord is automatic?  What is in your life right now that is more important than spending time with God?  Consider this: ten thousand years from now, the only thing that will be important is the relationship you did or did not have with the Lord Jesus.  In light of eternity, nothing else even comes close, not your job, your husband or wife, your kids, your home, cars, boats, airplanes, stock options, or vacation plans.

    I’m certainly not telling you forget about all that, but put first things first.  You will not be standing before the Lord to give account for your life with your mate beside you.  It will be just you and the Lord.  Now let me ask you again, are you ready?  If so, wonderful, I commend you.  But….if you’re not ready, there’s something that is trying to sneak up on you to destroy your future….it’s called PROCRASTINATION!

    Proverbs 20:4 says, The sluggard will not plow by reason of the cold; therefore shall he beg in harvest, and have nothing.

    Now, I’m not calling anyone lazy here, but I want to raise a point; the sluggard’s reasoning for not plowing when it was cold was that it was not convenient for him, so he thought to put it off till it was warmer.  But by doing that, the crop would not be ripe to harvest at the proper time, and winter would set in before it was ready for harvest, destroying it.  Therefore, he would lose his harvest and have nothing. 

    Let’s look at that same picture in a spiritual sense.  Putting off preparing your spiritual life will result in time slipping away from you.  Then when the Lord returns, you will be found not ready for Him, and guess what?  You lose!  Remember the parable of the ten virgins, in Matthew 25:1-13?  Let’s examine it here:

 Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom. And five of them were wise, and five were foolish. They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them:  But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept.  And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him.  Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps.  And the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil; for our lamps are gone out.  But the wise answered, saying, Not so; lest there be not enough for us and you: but go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves.  And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage: and the door was shut.  Afterward came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us.

 But he answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not.

 Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh.

    Here we see the extreme danger of procrastination.  The five foolish virgins had put off buying extra oil.  You need to note here that they were ALL ten virgins.  But five did not properly prepare.  Might you be in that situation?  Only you can honestly answer that question.  All I can do is say “Check your oil…” 
    Having all the “usual” responsibilities, PLUS the care of this ministry and your souls, I have to constantly be on guard against squeezing God out, while doing His work.  It’s easy to be so busy working for the Lord that you don’t spend enough time with the Lord.  Don’t ask me how I know this….
    Maybe you have said in your heart, “Tomorrow I’ll do better.”  See how easy it is to procrastinate?  The devil doesn’t mind if you have good intentions to spend quality time with God.  It doesn’t disturb the devil in the least if you promise yourself to spend more time with God, because he and his buddies will see to it that you are kept quite busy so it will not happen.  Again, don’t ask me how I know this…
   
    Do yourself a big favor….forget tomorrow.  You don’t have a guarantee of tomorrow anyway.  But you do have RIGHT NOW!  What better time could there be to get alone with God??  Ask Him to show you how to stop the “time stealers”, and learn how to say “NO” to things that take your time away from the Lord.  I found that if I really wanted to spend time with God, I could find a way, and I did.  But some things had to leave my life.  We all have 24 hours in our day, but yet, some people just seem to be able to spend more time with God than others.  How is that?  Simple, it’s a matter of priority.  NOTHING you have is more important than your soul.  Take care of that FIRST! Let me tell you what….it’s worth it!  And ten thousand years from now, you’ll be so glad you did!